Online Casino Ad Impressions Triple During Lockdown

Online Casino Ad Impressions Triple During Lockdown ( Click to Enlarge )

According to new research, over the past month, paid ad impressions for gambling and online casino brands in the UK almost tripled, in spite of MPs requesting a ban on all online casino advertising.

The research also discovered that the United Kingdom was amongst the top 10 countries for paid online casino ads last month, with 112,818 ads recorded from the 5th April to the 4th May, experiencing an annual increase of 196%.

A number of UK MPs have called for a ban on all online casino advertising and promotion during the country-wide lockdown, as most UK citizens are staying at home and will be more susceptible to online gambling advertising.

Radio And TV Ads Removed

Two weeks ago, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), which represents online casinos including Bet365, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, announced that its members would remove radio and TV ads for up to six weeks.

While the casinos would continue to promote their products online, the BGC announced that its members have significantly reduced its ads in order to “commit to further increases in safer gambling messaging online“.

Impressions Increase Despite Removal From Casino Brands

Paid ad impressions for gambling and casino brands across the globe have doubled since March. Last month, impressions increased by 158% over a period of three weeks.

Over the 16th, 17th and 18th weeks of 2020, the research uncovered that the number of paid ad impressions had reached 352,000 on average.

Despite this, when the coronavirus pandemic first began, gambling companies significantly decreased their online advertising.

Up to week 18 of this year, the number of paid ad impressions totalled 6,409,590, a decrease of 9% of the same period in 2019.

The report from the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) also suggested that the recent increase of paid impressions may be an attempt by advertisers to attract users before betting shops and physical casinos are reopened again in a number of countries.

For more online casino updates and news, take a look at the rest of our site at Casino Zone now.

by